Archive for the ‘Court Highlights’ Category

A player from Jersey City brought a friend from Bridgewater area.They met when they both just about came right out of college and now one is retired. Now that’s quite a friendship. They met up, played and caught up with each other. The friend had a nice time and hopes to bring his wife before the outdoor season ends…

It was a like a high school or college reunion with so many hugs and kisses as they arrived in the parking lot, the hallway and the lounge. So many who haven’t been here this summer on a regular basis all showed up the same day. Everyone was so happy to see each other and play together again. It was unusual to see almost as many women as men…

Two Saturday regulars from New Rochelle, NY made it to the Sunday party for the first time. They’ve been meaning to come since last summer. One has relatives in Hackensack and Mahwah. Since she’s not unfamiliar with NJ, I said she should come more often. And her friend said he liked it so much that he will return with his friends as well. I’m glad they finally got to experience the charm of summer days at Packanack and look forward to their return!

Not a teenager but a 27 year old started coming to the parties in 2008 or 9 when he was a dental resident. Now 33 or 34, married with a 6 week old daughter, he had a free weekend to attend, happily playing with Dwight whom he played with often. Congratulations on his first born!

A couple from Cedar Knolls attended the party. At the end of the night the husband automatically picked up his wife’s tennis bag and his bag. I commented something to the effect – How nice to have someone carry your bag. He answered with a smile – It’s 16 years in training. They’ve been married 16 years. And that’s how it should be done…

An optical illusion – I figure I’d feature a picture for a player from Nutley and a player from New Milford whom I often pair together because they have a similar game and are both super fast on the court (23 & 28 respectively). The picture of the Nutley player shows he has only 1 leg! as he’s hitting that backhand. REALLY, HE HAS 2 LEGS. Such timing…

The rain brought in several more players this Saturday. Most of the players roughed it and showed up without umbrellas but some did come with them. Naturally some players had wet brows and some dry brows. So they joked – “It’s the wet brows vs. the dry brows matches.”

A couple of weeks ago I had to fill in and played with a righty. I noticed the opponents were both lefty and said – “This isn’t right, you’re both lefty. Let’s switch it up.” My righty partner added – “Lefties can’t do it right. They can only do it left.” Pretty good! And we switched it up to do lefty and righty partners, a fairer pairing, at least for me since I’m not fond of lefty spins…

Granted it was warm last Friday, many showed up to play making it look almost like a winter Friday night tennis party. It was good to see old friends from all over the map including Cedar Knoll, Chatham, Hoboken, Mahwah, Teaneck and South Orange…

A player from Little Falls started playing at the Friday parties again to supplement her weekly game. She goes to Florida for the month of April and takes lessons the whole time she’s there just so she can get better because she loves tennis so much. Many of you know I admire people who aspire to be more regardless of how old they are. Also at the Friday party there was so much chatter about the French Open…